Atheist On The Throne

[Hopkirk]

What would happen if one of the heirs to the throne announced he was an atheist?

[anotheoldgit]

jno

/// aog, it cannot have escaped your attention that an heir to the throne is being christened today? ///

Of course it hasn't, but the op should have incorporated that fact into his question, and I doubt if the baby is old enough yet to make a decision on on his religious feelings.

With the headline and the lack of a news link, it would seem that there is some form of rumour going around, that a heir to the throne is an atheist.

[ichkeria]

I don't see why being a republican PM should matter. It would depend how 'republican' they were.
After all UKIP members seem happy enough to take their seats in the Euro parliament ...

[anotheoldgit]

Just relax you keyboard Republican Atheist revolutionaries, it ain't going to happen.

[FredPuli43]

Being head of the C of E is not a qualification for being monarch; monarchs are appointed as King or Queen, which happens have head of the C of E as one of its attributes. That means that they choose who is Archbishop of Canterbury, nothing else.

It follows that an atheist, not being married to a Catholic, would not be disqualified. When the Acts were passed, the fear was that Catholics would control government and achieve by stealth what they had not achieved by invasion. A new Act might provide that the monarch be not a Muslim of the jihadist persuasion !

[modeller]

To start with he couldn't be crowned. The whole ritual is bound to religion.
Equally all ceremonies would have to be radically changed.
Even launching a ship " May God bless her and all who sail in her." would have to be changed.

[ludwig]

// Being head of the C of E is not a qualification for being monarch; //

Being a member of it is though. You have to promise to be defender of THE faith and all sorts. You couldn't install an atheist in the role without effectively re-writing the job description first.

[modeller]

Wasn't there a recent minor change in the title :" Defender of the faith "
to " Faiths " I suppose Defender of the Society might cater for an atheist monarch.

[Hopkirk]

FAO Baldric and AOG, I feel deeply, deeply ashamed.

[sp1814]

So...the monarch (nor heir to the throne) can't be a Roman Catholic nor can he or she marry one...but they're not barred from marrying a Muslim.

Oh...can...you...just...imagine.

The servers which host the AnswerBank would literally explode.

[AB Editor]

I was hoping for this new statesman:

If anyone can find the last episode, it covers a similar constitutional crisis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_Statesman (series 4 Ep 6.)

[zebo]

When young George was being anticipated, didn't the Government and Commonwealth move the goalposts to enable a daughter to be heir apparent? At the same time, I seem to recall reading that they had also changed the no-RC rule, or at least it was being discussed.
I love people who go to the trouble to look into a subject and then declare "not bovvered"! Gaming is a topic in which I have to interest and hence have never looked at.

[naomi24]

Ludwig, quite right.

Modeller, I think Charles said that when he’s king, he would like to be known as ‘Defender of the Faiths’.

[weecalf]

We non believers have to go too

[sandyRoe]

Could he keep his fingers crossed when he took the necessary oaths?

[naomi24]

I expect some of them have.

[modeller]

I suppose he/she could be an atheist i.e not believe in gods but still believe in a religious philosophy of morality. a bit like Buddhism maybe ?

[sandyRoe]

When Charles 2 arrived back in England after his exile during the Republican times,he was presented with a Bible. 'This,' he said, 'is more precious to me than anything else in the world.'
A king wouldn't, perhaps couldn't, lie.

[AB Editor]

Sorry, here is the episode I was on about:



I think the last 5 minutes is pertinent to the discussion :)

[LazyGun]

Good clip, Ed :) As a republican atheist myself, I would like to thank AoG for thinking about my stress levels, but would like to reassure him that I am intensely relaxed about the whole process. No appetite in the country for doing away with the Monarchy it seems, so no sense obsessing about it ;)

As for this question - I thought it quite an interesting one, and. whilst not strictly a news item, it is germane in the sense that a one-day ruler is being baptised today, and that is in the news.

I cannot see it actually happening mind, but presuming George did decide to profess an atheism, to never buy into the faith, and were uncomfortable about being labelled head of the CofE and "Defender of Faiths", it would be interesting to see how, constitutionally speaking, the country would cope :)

[whiskeryron]

When Tony Blaire was on the throne he changed over to R/C.

WR.